A North Carolina man says he feels vindicated after winning an almost $9 million judgment against his wife's lover.

According to WRAL, Keith King married Danielle in 2010. In 2015, King said he found flirtatious texts between her and Francisco Huizar III after they met on a business trip.

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"My marriage was murdered," King said. "It was destroyed."

After trying to repair the marriage for the sake of their 5-year-old daughter, King learned from a friend about North Carolina's alienation of affection law. In 2017, he sued Huizar for criminal conversation and alienation of affection.

"I was like, 'Wait a minute, are you serious? You can sue the person that destroyed your marriage?'" King said. "She said, 'Absolutely.'"

It's part of the state's broken-heart tort, which involves two components. The first is alienation of affection, which accuses someone of breaking up a happy marriage. The other is criminal conversation, which involves sexual acts.

The idea, which many attorneys and state lawmakers believe should be abolished, dates back to colonial North Carolina, when women were seen as property. Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota and Utah have similar laws.

King's attorney, Dorothy O'Neill, said the plaintiff has to prove the third party was responsible for destroying the marriage. She said King's effort to work on the marriage even after finding the texts between Danielle and Huizar, and allegations that she brought Huizar to their home and introduced him to their daughter helped King's case.

"This is a very classic case that just happened to have all the factors." O'Neill said. "Most of the cases people want to bring would never yield this type of result."

Huizar's attorney said the ruling would be appealed.

For King, who believes he'll probably never see most of the $8.8 million reward, it's not about the money. Winning the case was more important.

"I would be married right now, and we would keep growing our family, and that got destroyed," King said. "There's no doubt in my mind, and I've always said, 'If it wasn't for him. If it wasn't for him.'"